Andrew’s cookies have been retired, sigh.  But when I saw this picture he took of some Sea Glass that he found on the Beach in Roberts Creek, well, it just seemed to speak to me!  A regular old bottle, tossed into the sea to journey wherever the tides take it, changing with each mile, until it is a completely different object, simple, smooth, beautiful…just like me, tee hee!

This week’s journey took me to Chilliwack, where I stepped in to another store stocked full with cool products!  I was very excited to see a rack of Ranger Alcohol Inks, so we’ve scheduled a class on Advanced Techniques for Classic on Alexander, I hope you’ll check it out!

And of course I taught my first 3D paint class in Gibson’s on Saturday at the Family Matters Day Crop, and I must say, Debbie found the perfect little spot for the ladies day of crafting..Right on the BEACH!  I hope she does it again, because everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves!

I visited with a few of you at Paper Poet in New West, where the 8 x 11 Bazzill cardstock is the cheapest in town, and they’ve broken up all the hardware and ephemera packages to sell them bulk like we did at Cherish.

The Stencil Demo at Cherry Lane ran over time again as I tried to show EVERYTHING that you can do with stencils, and I’m pleased to say that I received an e-mail from one of the ladies telling me she was re-inspired (Awesome Jacque!!)

But among the fun, I was sorry to see that Paper Nation announced that they were moving on in their own adventure, and I truly wish Bryan the very best of luck in his own future path.  I know he will miss all of you, but I’m sure he realizes that he holds a special place in our hearts too.

Please, and I know I’ve said this before, but please support your local shops, both scrapbook and others, we love what we do, and want to keep bringing you the latest and greatest as fast we can, but without your visits, that will get harder and harder.  I will do my very best to teach as many cool classes as I can, at as many stores as I have time for, and I look forward to seeing you there.

I know, I’m late, but I wanted to show you the Christmas Card we gave out this year…
Thant’s Andrew’s, Ella’s and My fingerprints creating those cute snowmen, and Andrew hand drew the details.  Every Card was therefore different, unique and extra Special.  This one was one of my favorites…

That’s me on my Great Great Grandmother’s lap.  Yup, that’s not a spell check issue, that’s my GREAT GREAT!  My mom and Grandma are standing behind us and My Great Grandma was living in Florida.

How special is it to have pictures of 5 Generations of women, all alive in Your Lifetime?  Pretty Darn Cool if you ask me!  I would say, it might even be a Scrapbooking Event for sure!  And yet, I have always said that I am not a Scrapbooker.

Huh?!?  How can I NOT be a Scrapbooker, I own a Scrapbooking Store!?  Sure I do,  but you see,  I was smart enough to hire staff who could Scrapbook.  And then I was clever enough to listen to all they had to say to customers.  And then I invested in the Best Page Kits ever (Memories Workshop, you have to check them out!).  And then I took the Greatest Class from Jennifer Edwardson (Use Your Stash) and Then…I found a passion.

Although I still describe myself as a Cardmaker (okay, okay, I describe myself as the Technique Master, but you know what I mean) Cards have become “the Business”, and my hobby isn’t as fun as it used to be.  But I have a secret…

I have been Scrapbooking!

And I have been enjoying every minute of it!  Along my journey to becoming a “SCRAPBOOKER” I have discovered a few things that I would like to share with you.  Some of it may help, and some you may disregard, but I’m hoping you’ll read something that speaks to you.

So for my first Confession…

I have a craft room that is not conducive to Crafting.  It does not provide Inspiration.  It is a mess (what’s with all those clean craft room pictures that people post online, we KNOW you spent hours throwing everything in a closet in the other room, be honest!)  This is my desk, Right Now…

Embarrassing?  YES!

True?  YES!

Familiar…?

But I want to finish my Layouts that I started in Jennifer’s “Use Your Stash” class, so where am I working…?

On the Dining Room table of course!  And in one night, it has also become a complete mess!  (Poor Andrew, good thing he’s away for the weekend, and this will be gone by the time he comes home!…Uh, I hope…)  I have to run upstairs to my craft room to get whatever Extra’s I need…Ribbon, Punches…Really I should just clean up my space upstairs, but it’s so daunting, sigh.

So, I will use this blog to tell you about the Truths I have learned, and I will be Real about my “miss” adventures into this craft, and I hope that you might make a few “confessions” of your own…Post Pics on my facebook page of YOUR craft Space…but RIGHT NOW, not after you’ve cleaned it up.  Come on, Be Brave, this is a confession after all….

Are you ready to be inked, pasted, encrusted, stenciled and stamped? Because all this week the Dreamweaver Stencils’ Dream Team and the Stampendous Design Teams will be providing some “Dream-pendous” inspiration for you, with multiple opportunities to win some fabulous prizes from both companies. In my bag of Stampendous Inpiration, I was given…

Silver Halo Glitter, Shaved ice Fran-tage, Conservatory Cling Stamp & Friendly Phrases Cling Stamp, and for my first card on this Dream-pendous Blog Hop, I created this…

I used Spellbinders Labels 17 to cut a frame out of Cream coloured Craft Foil. I then Dry Embossed it with my Dreamweaver Mosiac Tiles Stencil LJ901 (probably my favorite Background stencil!).